1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a connector equipped with an engagement detecting member which is capable of detecting whether or not a female connector and a male connector are perfectly engaged with each other.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An example of a conventional connector provided with a detecting means for detecting whether or not a female connector and a male connector are perfectly engaged with each other is shown in FIG. 20 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Heisei 4-209478), as the connector K.
The connector K comprises a female connector housing "a" and a male connector housing "b" both of which form a pair of connector. A detecting piece "d" is inserted into a detecting piece hole "c" of the female connector housing "a" which allows it to move freely up and down. Meanwhile a locking piece "e" is provided for the male connector housing "b".
When the female connector housing "a" and the male connector housing "b" are normally engaged with each other, as shown in FIG. 21, the locking piece "e" of the male connector housing "b" causes the detecting piece "d" to push up from the underside, a front projection of the detecting piece "d" permits the engagement both of the connector housings "a" and "b" to detect.
When the female connector housing "a" and the male connector housing "b" are incompletely engaged with each other, the locking piece "e" is pressed down continuously, accordingly no front projection enables the incompleteness of the engagement to detect.
However, connector K can not excessively be enlarged since it causes the detecting piece "d" to project after engagement. If the connector K is enlarged, wide occupied space is required for connecting the connectors with the result that it puts an arrangement for the components at disadvantage. It becomes difficult to confirm the projection of the detecting piece "d" in case of small detecting piece "d", with the result that a mistake tends to take place. There are problems that it causes the reliability of the engagement detection to deteriorate, since a detecting piece "d" is inserted into a detecting piece hole "c" of the female connector housing "a" which allows it to move freely up and down, this introduces the danger that even if the engagement of the connectors is incomplete, the detecting piece projects from the detecting piece hole on account of the cause of some kind.